USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Milford > History of the town of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1881 > Part 3
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In witness whereof, the said Annawassamauk, Quashaamit, Great John, Namsconont, and Upanabohqueen have set to, their hands and Seals, this twenty two of April, One thousand six hundred and sixty two.
The words " by, from or under them " in the sixth line, as also, that the Indians specified in this deed, together with their heirs forever, have liberty to fish, fowl, and hunt, so far as any law of this Jurisdiction alloweth in other places, notwithstanding any thing in this Deed. This was before the Ensealing hereof.
ANAWASSAMAUKE 3. his
[L.S.]
mark
his
QUASHAAMITT X [L.S]
JOHN ELLIOTT, Junior.
mark his
DANIEL WELD, Senior.
NAMSCONONT S [L.S.]
(No hand.)
mark
[L.S.]
Great John set to his hand and seal and delivered the Deed to Moses Payne and Peter Brackett, this eighth day of September 1662.
As Witnesses,
WILLIAM ALLIS,
NATHANIEL BRACKETT.
We Moses Payne and Peter Brackett do assign over all our right, title and interest in this Deed, unto the Selectmen of the Town of Mendon, for the use of said Town, as witness our hands,
MAY ye 12, 1670.
PETER BRACKETT, MOSES PAYNE.
Signed, Sealed and delivered, the day and year above written, in the presence of us. JOHN ELLIOTT, Senior.
9
SETTLEMENT AND INCORPORATION.
The above is believed to be a true copy of the original deed as it is entered in the first volume of the town records of the town of Mendon by the person who was especially deputed by the committee to enter the "public acts from the beginning of the plantation," and was transcribed as early as 1667. The original was probably lost at the destruction of the town during King Philip's war in 1675.1
SETTLEMENT, INCORPORATION, AND DESOLATION.
Of what transpired from this period until the incorporation of the plantation as a town in 1667, we know but little, as no record was left by those who were set apart to look after the prudential affairs of the place, or, if kept, was long since lost. As the power of admitting persons to the rights of citizenship had been surrendered to the people by the committee, it is presumed that they, or those to whom they had delegated the power, admitted such persons to their company as in their discretion they saw fit.
The pioneer settlers of this place, we must remember, held the far- thest outpost of civilization in this direction. They were surrounded by Indians, who were daily jealous of the encroachments of a race, who, since the landing at Plymouth, had taken no step backward. . They were in the midst of a wilderness, and fifteen miles from succor in case of distress or disaster. Considering the circumstances of their case, we can readily suppose that most of their time must have been occupied in providing themselves with suitable shelter, and in planting and gathering the crops upon which they mainly depended for a supply of food.
1667. The last act of the Committee for " Nipmug " is recorded in the following words : -
" We the Subscribers do nominate and depute Colonel William Crowne to Enter the public Acts respecting Mendon from the beginning of the Plan- tation to this time, and to finish his work with speed, and make return to us under named,
" The Committee Respecting the Prudential affairs of Mendon.
ELIEZER LUSHER, WILLIAM STOUGHTON, WILLIAM PARKE.
DEDHAM, 2: 2: '67."
Major Humphrey Atherton, originally appointed one of this Com- mittee, having died at Dorchester, Sept. 16, 1661, in consequence of a fall from a horse, William Stoughton of Dorchester was appointed in his stead.
- 1 Compared with the deed recorded B. 6, pp. 288, 289, in Suffolk Reg., 7, there is one trifling difference. Instead of the words " to be holden in fee sockage and in capite," the Suffolk version reads, " to be holden in free sockage, and not in Capite nor by Knight's Service."
10
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
1667, July 1st. - At a Town Meeting held this day, it was voted to make a Division of the Meadows, and goodman White and goodman Cook and good- man Harbor and goodman Puffer were joined with the Selectmen for that purpose. The names of those who shared in this Division of the Meadows were,
1. William Crowne. 8. Johu Harbor.
2. Benjamin Albee.
9. John Thompson.
3. Ferdinand Thayer. 10. Joseph White.
4. John Rockwood. 11. John Jepson.
5. Thomas Barnes. 12. Abraham Staples.
6. John Gurney.
13. Peter Brackett.
14. George Aldrich.
15. Daniel Lovett.
16. John Moore.
17. Samuel Read.
18. Joseph Juell.
19. Thomas Juell.
20. The School.
7. Mathias Puffer.
21. The Glebe.
July 14, 1667. - Granted to Col. William Crown and to his assigns, and the present Minister, their shares of Meadow, in that which is called the Rock Meadow.
The first record of the proceedings of the town after its incorpora- tion is preceded by the following preamble : -
"The Honored General Court was pleased to make this Plantation a Town, the 15th day of May 1667, and named it Mendon, and adorned it with several large Privileges, and confirmed their line and the lands within the bounds thereof, to the present Inhabitants and their Successors, as by the said Court's Act doth appear, which land was purchased of the Indians, as by their Deed will appear.
" In this Book is set down the Transactions of the Town since they had their Privileges, being a Day Book for this year '67 and so on yearly.
"The Freemen and the rest of the Inhabitants met, and June 7th, '67, then did choose for their Selectmen, Col. William Crown, Goodman Benja- min Albee, Ferdinand Thayer, Daniel Lovett and John Thompson, Senior, and Col. Crown, Register." - J. G. M.]
Dr. Metcalf continues his transcription of the Mendon records with minute fidelity, in the form of annals ; and my copyist, Mr. Alexander H. Allen, furnished me very ample materials for a detailed history of the infant settlement. Many interesting particulars are given of the acts and proceedings of the town, the proprietors, the selectmen, etc., respecting roads, settlement of a minister, erection of a meeting- house, building of a parsonage, etc. These curious particulars, how- ever, belong more properly to the history of Mendon, for which Dr. Metcalf has made careful and ample preparation, and are in little dan- ger of falling into oblivion. I shall, therefore, select from the mate- rials before me only such as seem to have some necessary relation to our own town history, expecting that the whole will soon be pub- lished in their complete order ; (now in print).
11
KING PHILIP'S DEVASTATING WAR.
We have arrived at the date of June 7, 1667. It has been shown how the plantation at "Netmook," first called Quinshipaug, then Mendham, and finally Mendon, originated ; how the eight miles square of its territory was acquired of the Indian sachems ; how the General Court ordered the incipient affairs of its settlement ; and how it be- came an incorporated township May 15, 1667. The difficulties, hard- ships, and successes of the pioneers in this important enterprise down to the act of incorporation can hardly be imagined ; but a terrible calamity, King Philip's war, in 1675, almost swept their thriving set- tlement out of existence. King Philip enlisted nearly all the Nipmuck Indians, as well as the more powerful neighboring tribes, into his warlike alliance. The speedy result was six actual murders of the Mendon settlers, the flight of all their survivors to the seacoast towns, and finally, in February, 1676, the burning of every dwelling-house. Their first meeting-house, and nearly or quite all their out-buildings, shared the general devastation. With comparatively slight exceptions, they lost the fruits of twelve years' progress from their wilderness beginning.
I cannot ascertain, that, down to the period of this dreadful calam- ity, a single dwelling-house had been built within our present town limits. There is, however, some reason to believe that Benjamin Alby (Albee) had erected his famous first " corn-mill " at the Lewis B. Gaskill place, and made himself a home near by on the now Mendon side of the road, not far from Willis Gould's residence. If so, the probability is that his house and mill were burnt by the savages.
When the war ended by the overthrow of King Philip and a sweep- ing destruction of his confederates, the Mendon fugitives began to return, but in a poverty-stricken condition, and with a deep-seated dread of the savages that lingered in reduced numbers about the gen- eral neighborhood. Not more than half the original settlers returned ; but the heirs and assigns of the others, with new adventurers, soon joined the old proprietors, so that the year 1680 witnessed a promising resumption of lands and corporate privileges.
Here it may be proper to present an authentic list of persons, heads of families mostly, to whom lands had been granted before the war. I quote from Dr. Metcalf.
[At the breaking out of Philip's war, the following persons are all to whom the Town had granted land: -
Col. William Crown, Benjamin Albee, Ferdinand Thayer, John Rockwood, Thomas Barnes, John Gurney, Mathias Puffer, John Harbor, Walter Cook, Peter Brackett, Joseph Aldrich, Daniel Lovett, George Aldrich, John More, Samuel Read, Joseph Juell, Thomas Juell, Samnel Spenser, John Thompson,
12
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
sen., Joseph White, John Jepson, Abraham Staples, John Woodland, Samuel Hayward, John Parris, Job Tyler, Deacon Hide, Job Hide, Gregory Cook, Steven Cook, sen., Joseph Stevens, John Aldrich, Hope Tyler, John Sprague, William Holbrook, Mrs. Tappinge, Joseph Emerson, John Bartlett, James Albee, Simon Peck, John Raynes, The Ministry and The School. - J. G. M.]
"THE NORTH PURCHASE."
Passing in silence over numerous transactions of the re-organized Mendon authorities for several years, we come at length to one of special interest to our inhabitants. I allude to a new acquisition of lands from the Indians, comprising three square miles, more or less, of our present territory. This acquisition has always been designated " The North Purchase." It was made by a committee of Mendon, and consummated by a deed from the heirs of the old Natick sachem, John Awasamog, alias Awasamauke, who, I presume, was a leading grantor of the original Quinshepaug purchase, -the eight miles square. The deed bears date Feb. 19, 1691-2.
A COPY FROM MENDON RECORDS.
To all Christian People to whom these Presents may come : -
Know ye, that John Awasamog and Amos Awasamog and Peter Ephraim, Heirs to John Awasamog, late of Natick, deceased, for good and valuable consideration, them therennto moving, and especially for and in considera- tion of the sum of Three pounds Sterling Money to them in hand paid, by Ferdinando Thayer, Joseph White, Senior, Josiah Chapin, Abraham Staples, Senior, Samuel Hayward, James Lovett and Samuel Read, Senior, Com- mittee for the Town of Mendon, in the County of Suffolk, in the Colony of Massachusetts, in New England, the receipt whereof they do acknowledge themselves by these Presents, and thereof every part and parcel thereof, doth exhonorate, acquit, and discharge, the said Ferdinando Thayer, Joseph White, Josiah Chapin, Abraham Staples, Samuel Hayward, James Lovett, and Samuel Read, their Heirs and Assigns forever, by these Presents, have given, granted, bargained and sold, enfeoffed and confirmed, and do by these Presents, give, grant, bargain, sell, enfeoff, and confirm unto Ferdinando Thayer, Joseph White, Josiah Chapin, Abraham Staples, Samuel Hayward and James Lovett of Mendon aforesaid, their Heirs and Assigns forever, A certain tract of land laying upon the North side of the Township of Mendon, butted and bounded, as followeth: Sontherly upon Mendon line, and Easterly upon Sherburne line to the height of Maspenock Pond, and northerly upon a line of marked trees until it comes to Maspenock Pond, westerly, partly upon the above said Maspenock Pond, and partly upon a River commonly known by Mendon Mill River, home to Mendon line aforesaid, with all the Trees, Timber woods and underwoods standing, laying and growing thereon, with all the Meadows, swamps, watercourses, ponds and brooks laying within
13
THE NORTH PURCHASE.
the said tract of land as it is bounded, with all the other privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging or anyways appertaining thereunto, together with a full and free confirmation of all lands formerly sold by John Awasamog, father of the abovesaid Awasamogs, late of Natick, deceased, to the Town of Mendon aforesaid, as it is butted and bounded in the Deed, and confirmed by the General Court. To Have and To Hold the said Tract of land as it is bounded, together with all the Trees, Timber, woods and underwoods, standing, laying and growing thereon, with all the Swamps, Meadows, Brooks, watercourses within the said Tract of land, with all other privileges and appurtenances, anyways appertaining or belong- ing thereunto, uuto Fardinando Thayer, Joseph White, Josiah Chapin, Abraham Staples, Samuel Hayward, James Lovett and Samuel Read, to them their Heirs and Assigns forever, to the only proper use and behoof of them, the said Thayer, White, Chapin, Staples, Hayward, Lovett and Read, their Heirs and Assigns forever.
The said John and Amos Awasamog and Peter Ephraim doth covenant and promise and grant, by these Presents, that the said Awasamogs and Peter Ephraim, are the proper owners of the said tract of land, that they are free from all manner of bargains, sales, gifts, grants, titles, mortgages, actions, suits, arrests, attachments, Judgements, executions, extents, incum- brances whatsoever, from the beginning of the World, until the time of the Sale and bargain thereof. And the said Awasamogs and Peter Ephraim doth covenant, promise and grant by these Presents, all and singular, the bargained Premises with all the appurtenances, to warrant, acquit and defend unto the said Thayer, White, Chapin, Staples, Hayward, Lovett and Read, their Heirs and Assigns forever, against all Indians, or any other persons, whatsoever, from, by or under them, claiming any right, title or interest of or unto the same, or any part thereof, by these Presents, and that it shall, and may be lawful, for the said Thayer, White, Chapin, Staples, Hayward, Lovett and Read, their Heirs and Assigns, to record and enroll, or cause to be recorded and enrolled, the Title and Tenor of these Presents, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, and according to the usual order and manner of recording Deeds and Evidences in such case made and provided, and to acknowledge the same before legal authority when called thereunto. In witness whereof, the said John Awasamog, Amos Awasamog, and Peter Ephraim set to, their hands and seals, this Nineteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord, Sixteen hundred Ninety and one, or two, and in the third year of the Reign of our Sovereigns, William and Mary, King and Queen of England, &c.
Signed, Sealed and delivered, and possession given in presence of us.
JOSEPH WHITE, JR.
SAMUEL READ, JR.
his
JOHN AWASAMOG Æ
mark.
his
AMOS AWASAMOG Πmark.
his PETER EPHRAIM P. E. mark.
14
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
REMARKS ON INDIAN NAMES.
Hayward's Gazetteers of New England and Massachusetts, fol- lowed by Nason's Massachusetts Gazetteer, and perhaps other works, say that the Indian name of our Milford was Wapowage. As I had re-echoed the same statement, on what I supposed sufficient authority, I set on foot an inquiry into the meaning of the name Wapowage. It was referred to J. Hammond Trumbull, Esq., of Hartford, Conn., a very eminent savant in Indian lore. He soon informed me, - not what the name signified, but that it was the Indian name of Milford, Conn., never of our Milford, and that the latter had no distinctive name apart from old Mendon, -- the original eight miles square, - which was Quinshipaug. Thus my error, copied from the Gazetteers, stands corrected, and the Connecticut Milfordians are left in clear possession of the name Wapowage, whose signification they may ascertain at their leisure.
As to Quinshipaug, Mr. Trumbull says its literal signification is " Pickerel Pond," by which, I suppose, the Indians meant a tract of territory whose ponds and other waters abounded with fine pickerel. From what I have seen and heard the name is truthfully appropriate. Maspenock, alias North Pond, Nipmuck Pond, and the smaller ponds, both natural and artificial, throughout ancient Quinshipaug, have always bred pickerel rapidly, and of the best quality. Even now, though overdrawn and much exhausted by excessive fishing, they vindicate the good judgment of the aborigines. If, however, any of us deem "Pickerel Pond " a name wanting in dignity, we must either forget or make the best of it.
15
SITUATION AND TOPOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER II.
SITUATION, TOPOGRAPHY, SOIL, AND PRODUCTIONS.
Situation, Topography, and Geology. - Situation, Boundaries, Size, Distance from the Seacoast, etc. - Mr. Almon Thwing's Report on Certain Features of our Topography, and Altitude at Various Points; giving Interesting Facts relating to our Rivers, Hills, and Other Particulars. - My Amplification of the Same Topics. - Geological Formation and Peculiarities of our Soil.
Vegetation and Animality .- Forest State Two Hundred and Fifty Years Ago. - Native Trees and Woods; Herbage and Grasses. - The Natural Meadows, how formed; their Extent and Production Greater and More Valuable than Now. - How they were esteemed and shared by the First Settlers. - The Aboriginal Animals, Beasts, Birds, Fish, and Reptiles. - How the Most Dangerous, as well as some Harmless and Useful Ones, have been exterminated. - About the Rattlesnakes, etc. - Contrast of Then and Now.
Indian Relics and Names. - Not Many Relics. - Indian Inhabitancy: its Probable Transient Nature. - Their Departure, etc. - Only Two of their Names survive, Maspenock and Magomiscock - Meaning of these Names. - Probable Indian Name of Bear Hill. - Reference to Wapowage. - Meaning of Nipmuck. - Con- clusion.
SITUATION, TOPOGRAPHY, AND GEOLOGY.
M ILFORD is situated in about 42° 8' north latitude, and 71º 9' west longitude, from Greenwich. It is bounded north by Hopkinton ; east by Holliston, Medway, and Bellingham ; south, south-west, and west by Mendon; and north-west by Upton. As before stated, it has an area of over nineteen square miles, or about 12,170 acres; being about six miles in length, with an average breadth of a little over three miles. It lies in the south-easterly part of Worcester County, skirting on Middlesex and Norfolk Counties. Its nearest approach to the sea-coast is in the direction of Provi- dence, R.I., a distance of twenty-two to twenty-five miles on a slightly south-east right line. From Massachusetts Bay at Boston, in a north-easterly direction, its distance is not far from thirty air- line miles. From its county-seat at Worcester, it lies south-east about eighteen miles.
In respect to its topography, and altitude above the level of the ocean, I engaged Mr. Almon Thwing of Hopedale to make examina- tion and measurements, which would enable me to place on record numerous interesting particulars worthy of transmission to after-times, as well as gratifying to the curiosity of the present generation. He made the following
+
16
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
REPORT.
The undersigned, having been engaged by Mr. Ballou, the town his- torian, to examine and report to him certain particulars of the topography of Milford and its altitude at various points, has done so with care and pre- cision. I submit the following statements as substantially accurate and reliable: to wit,-
There are two small rivers that run through the town in a southerly direction, almost parallel to each other, dividing it into three nearly equal parts. Charles River, the easterly stream, rises in a large highland swamp near Hopkinton line, about one-third of a mile east of where Haven Street crosses said line, and is there four hundred and thirty-two feet above tide- water. Running in its general southerly direction, with considerable descent to the mill-privilege at Wild Cat, so called, it there receives an important confluent stream known as Deer Brook. Some have contended that Deer Brook ought to be regarded as more properly Charles River; but old deeds, maps, and outline drawings of the town, show conclusively that the one I am describing is the real Charles. Deer Brook rises in Hopkinton, on the east- erly side of Hayden Row Street, perhaps a mile south-easterly of the town centre; crosses said street half a mile or more north of Hayden Row school- house; and thence pursues its way, a little west of said street, into the extreme north-east corner of Milford, through what was formerly the north- west corner of Holliston, to its junction with the Charles at Wild-Cat. Thence the Charles passes on through Cedar-Swamp Pond to the falls at Milford Centre; and thence to Bellingham, at the south-east corner of our town. There are but two mill-seats occupied on the Charles within our limits, - that at Wild Cat, for sawing; and that of Aaron Claflin, in the Centre, for grinding grain. Where the Charles leaves Milford, it is three hundred and seven feet nine inches above tide-water, -our lowest level. Thence it passes on through Bellingham, Medway, Medfield, Dover, Sher- born, and Needham, to Dedham. There it divides into two branches, -one running northerly through various towns into Charlestown Harbor, and the other through Dedham and Dorchester into the Bay.
Mill River rises in North Pond, -only a fraction of which is in Mil- ford, - and forms its outlet. At that point, it is four hundred and fifty-two feet and nine inches above tide-water. Running in a southerly direction, it falls one hundred and thirty-six feet nine inches before leaving town. At that, point it is three hundred and sixteen feet above tide-water, being eight feet three inches higher than the Charles where it leaves our limits. I make the fall of Mill River within our borders considerably less than some for- merly estimated it; that is, one hundred and four feet three inches less than heretofore given by guess-work. Mill River affords eleven mill-seats of greater or less power, six of which are occupied. Its first three seats have thirty-three feet fall, and are unoccupied. The fourth is occupied by Fisk's grist and saw mills, having eleven feet fall. The fifth, with six feet fall, at the "City" so called, is idle. The sixth is occupied by Hopedale Machine Company, with twelve feet fall. The seventh is occupied by
17
THWING'S REPORT.
Dutcher Temple Company; fall, sixteen feet. The eighth runs Samuel Walker's grist-mill, etc., with nine feet fall. The ninth runs the works at Spindleville, latterly so called, with a fall of eleven feet. The remaining two have about thirteen feet fall, and are unoccupied. Thus about twenty- five feet fall is absorbed by ponds and slack-water. Mill River pursnes a southerly course through Mendon, Blackstone, and Woonsocket, R.I .; and thence therewith to tide-water at Pawtucket and Providence. I find, after considerable pains to ascertain, that tide-water at Boston and Providence has almost the same level, with only the slight geographical difference, and that my several measurements are thereby confirmed.
I find that the drainage of the " Great Meadow," once famous on our records, which lies northerly and north-easterly of Bear Hill, leaves town in a small streamlet called Stall Brook, and runs through Medway and Belling- ham into Charles River. I was somewhat surprised to learn, by critical examination, that a little run of water seems to start from the immediate skirts of Cedar-Swamp Pond, just this side of the hither corner of Pine- Grove Cemetery, and creeps along east of the Catholic Cemetery, southerly across East Main Street; then under the railroad near Medway Street; thence easterly across Birch Street, down through what must once have been a pond of considerable size; and thence through the narrows into Medway, under the name aforesaid. I found the water in Cedar-Swamp Pond three feet higher than where this brooklet runs under the railroad, where it was two feet higher than at the crossing of Birch Street, and there three feet higher than at the narrows below Medway line; in all, a fall of nearly eight feet from Cedar-Swamp Pond to said narrows. Thus a dam at the narrows of five feet high would flow the "Great Meadow," and all its numerous coves, back to the railroad. The natural formation of the land between Pine-Grove Cemetery and the Catholic Cemetery, and the land where Charles River crosses Main Street at Claflin's Mill, is so nearly level, that, in all probability, a part of the water from Cedar-Swamp Pond, long ago, must have run off through the " Great Meadow," in the course I have described. In fact, a slight portion of it does so run now. . And when the further fact is considered, that the now cultivatable lowlands adjacent to that ancient meadow, in large quantity, are only a few feet above the brooklet described (all the way from two to ten), we can well understand that the Great Meadow was a prize worth contending for by the first settlers of Mendon and Sherborn.
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